Variations that I studied actually occurring in a game.
As white, players at my level playing anything in the 2... d6 Open Sicilian besides the Bowdler Attack.
I think bishop and knight vs. king (no pawns) endgame is quite rare...
Happened to me one time in I guess over 14,000 games (including lichess account)...
I actually won this endgame vs. stockfish one time but I still don't really know how to do it, it was lucky...
What are some of the rarest things in chess? I will name some:
Hikaru Nakamura spending more than 10 seconds on a move in online chess
OTB chess tournaments happening in Delaware, USA
Managing to beat Magnus Carlsen
Please list of some more rare things.